


Everything Has Changed

by bisexualsinspacee (MelonBiskitQueen)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Sheith Week Unlimited 2018, alternate universe - comic book, i mean modern au meets futuristic au basically sums up to a comic book au right?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-04 07:37:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14015442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelonBiskitQueen/pseuds/bisexualsinspacee
Summary: Keith is a member of the Blades of Marmora. Shiro is Voltron's Black Paladin. What happens when a mission goes wrong and Shiro ends up saving Keith's life?





	1. Day 1 - Exchange

It wasn't suppose to go like this. The mission was not meant to happen like this. It was meant to be some simple intelligence gathering. A quick in and out mission so how was it Keith found himself being shot at by Galra soldiers?! 

Keith peaked out of his cover to see how many soldiers he was up against. Three, okay this was going to be easy. He darted from his cover, sword in hand, and quickly dispatched them. As he was finishing off the final one he noticed a group watching him. 

From first look he could tell that they weren't part of the Empire. Their armour was completely different and they weren't attacking him. Had it been their fault everything had gone wrong? 

...Yes, but not all of theirs. Just the one wearing the yellow armour. Keith had been on his way out when he'd been spotted by the one in the yellow, who had then shot at him and caused this whole mission to go sideways.

He was about to dash off and disappear when he noticed the symbol on their armour. Keith recognized it. It was the symbol of the Paladins of Voltron. So that's who they were. They could be very powerful allies to the Blades or very powerful enemies, depending on what Kolivan decided to do with this information.

"Who are you?" The white haired girl in the pink armour asked. Wait, pink armour? He certainly didn't remember anything about a pink lion from the stories he had grown up with. Not that it mattered right now. He had to get back to the base.

Without another thought on the Paladins, Keith sheathed his blade and dashed off towards where he had entered the facility. Once he had exited the facility it was just a short run till he reached his motorcycle.

He had nearly reached his bike when a large brute smashed into it and sent it flying. He recognised the culprit immediately.

Zethrid. One of Prince Lotor's generals. She turned to face him and he could see the excitement in her eyes at the thought of a fight. The conversation he'd had with Kolivan before he departed on this mission played in his head.

_"...and remember, you are to not engage anyone on this mission. Especially one of Lotor's generals. You know why."_

Yeah, he did. The last two Blades that went up against one of the generals didn't come back. Fighting Zethrid was suicide, but she just wrecked his way of escape and he had no where else to go. He was going to have to fight her. No matter how hopeless it was going to be.

He unsheathed his blade for the second time that night and got ready for one of the biggest fights of his life.

Keith had fought soldiers similar to Zethrid. The best way to deal with them was to stay out of their reach and wear them out. Only then could he think about taking her down. That's how it should've happened anyway. Before he had a chance to move Zethrid had already closed the distance between them and smashed straight into him, sending Keith flying.

 

When he hit the ground Keith was sure he felt, and heard, something break. He had managed to keep a grip on his blade although he doubted that it was going to do him much good now.

The fight with Zethrid was not going well. Keith was trying everything he had learnt and nothing seemed to work. She wasn't showing any signs of tiring and staying out of her reach wasn't working as she either charged him or threw something towards him.

Keith knew he wasn't going to survive this. Everything hurt and he was absolutely exhausted.

With a well placed kick to his side, she sent him flying once more. He lost his grip on his blade and it skidded across the ground away from him.

Keith attempted to get back up, but he collapsed back onto the floor. So this was how it all ended for him? Killed by one of Lotor's generals?

Zethrid towered over him and raised her gun toward him. She was about to pull the trigger when someone smashed into her.

It was the Paladin in the black armour. The blue and the yellow paladin were with him. They were shooting at Zethrid, forcing her to take cover. The black paladin turned his attention away from the general and offered his hand to Keith. "Come on, we need to get out of here."

He was hesitant, but Keith took his hand. He tried to stand on his own, but his legs buckled. Before he could hit the ground again the Paladin caught him and began to support him.

 

They began to make their way out when Keith spotted his blade close to where the blue Paladin was. When he stopped walking the black Paladin looked at him in confusion.

"I'm not leaving without my blade." Keith told him, gesturing towards the blade.

The black Paladin nodded. "Okay. Lance! Grab the blade and let's get out of here!"

"You've got it Shiro!"

Lance and Shiro? So that's what their names were.

Once Lance had picked up the blade they began to move again. It wasn't long before a van came into view. When they reached it, Shiro banged on the door. "Pidge, Allura. It's us, open up." So that was the names for the green and pink Paladin, but which one was which?

The door swung open and they were greeted with the sight of the pink Paladin. She offered Keith her hand to help him into the van. He was about to take it when he heard the sound of a gun being fired that didn't belong to the guns that the Paladins were using and he felt a blinding pain in his side.

His hand went to his side and he doubled over in pain. Everything seemed to begin to slow down. Keith knew what had happened. He had been shot.

He felt a couple of the Paladins getting him into the van and lying him down on what felt like a bench. Shiro was by his side and he felt him begin to put pressure on the wound.

 

The pink Paladin came into view briefly and he felt as she removed his mask before disappearing again. Why she had removed it, he didn't understand.

 

As time dragged on for him Keith was beginning to feel tired, a different tired to what he'd felt when fighting Zethrid, and his vision was starting to blur. He knew there was a good chance he wasn't going to make it, but he had to get the data he took to Kolivan.

"Hey, stay with us okay?" Shiro told him. He looked at him for a minute. Maybe he could deliver the information. Yeah, he had just met him and he Keith had no idea if he could be trusted, but he didn't have a choice.

He clumsily took the date drive out of a pouch on his belt and made sure Shiro had seen it. "Kolivan. You-you have to get it to Kolivan. He's the leader of the Blade...The Blades of Marmora. They need it for their fight against the Empire. Please make sure he gets it."

Shiro took the drive, put it away and resumed putting pressure on Keith's wound. He nodded. "Don't worry. I will."

"Thank you." With that out of the way Keith decided to focus on trying to stay awake. He didn't care how hopeless trying to stay awake might be, he couldn't just give up.

 

Shiro watched the...Blade? closely. Every minute that passed he was growing paler and paler. Even with him applying pressure the Blade was still losing a lot of blood. It wouldn't be long before they would be no longer to save his life. Dammit! Couldn't this van go any faster?!

Just as he thought that they rolled into a garage and came to the stop. Then there was the familiar feeling of them moving downwards into the ground.

The elevator hadn't reached the bottom yet when Shiro watched as Allura rushed to the doors and opened them. He understood immediately.

Shiro picked up the Blade and moved towards the doors. Light soon began to filter into the van as they entered the Castle.

When they were close enough to the floor Shiro jumped from the van and he sprinted towards the med bay. The second he got to the med bay the med team took over and left Shiro alone as they rushed off to try and save the Blade's life.

After taking a moment to catch his breathe Shiro headed to his room to clean his armour before rejoining his team.

Once he was finished with cleaning his armour, Shiro sat down on his bed and decided to look over the drive he had been given.

The Blade's words repeated in his mind. He and the others had never heard of the Blades of Marmora nor had they come across anything that could hint to a third party fighting the Empire.

As well as that he had been asked to get this drive to them, but how was he expected to do that when he had no idea on how to get in contact with them?! Shiro frowned. If things hadn't been complicated before, they sure were now. Well he wasn't going to figure anything out sitting here.

Shiro placed the drive on his nightstand and put his armour back on. He was just about finished when there was a knock at his door. "Yes?"

"You're needed on the Bridge, Shiro." Pidge's voice said through the door.

"Okay, I'll be there in a minute." He didn't know why, but something told him to grab the data drive and take it with him. Knowing better than to question his instincts he grabbed it and made his way to the Bridge.

When he got to the Bridge, Shiro saw the other Paladins, Coran and Matt standing outside the doors.

"We were asked to leave. Allura's still inside. It'll make more sense when you get in there." Matt explained when he saw Shiro's confused look. Shiro nodded and walked in.

On the large computer screen was a masked figure. He didn't have to be a genius to figure out that the figure was a member of the Blades of Marmora. Their suit gave them away after all.

"Shiro, this is Kolivan. Leader of the Blades of Marmora." Allura said once Shiro was standing next to her. "Kolivan, this is Shiro. Voltron's black Paladin and the person responsible for saving your Blade."

"I thank you for saving Keith. He's an invaluable member of our operation. Now to what me and your Princess were discussing. We believe that it is in both of our best interests to become allies rather than enemies. In order for us to work well as allies we must learn as much as we can from each other." Kolivan explained.

 

"I agree. That does sound like the best course of action. Question is, how are we going to do it?"

"I will be staying with the Blades for a week." Allura said.

"Keith, when he wakes, will be staying with you. Now to the other matter at hand. I believe that he gave you a data drive?" Kolivan asked.

"He did." Shiro replied, showing Kolivan the drive.

"Give it to your Princess. She'll make sure it gets to me." Shiro did as he asked. "Princess, I'm sending you coordinates to a meeting point. One of my Blades will meet you there and bring you to me."

"I'll see you soon then."

"Indeed. Till next time we talk Paladin." and with that the screen went dark.

"You know the others aren't going to be too happy about this right?"

"I know, Shiro, but they don't get a say in this matter. We need allies and this is the best way to get some."

"Guess we should go tell them then." Allura nodded and they made their way out of the Bridge to inform the rest.


	2. Day 2 - Growth

Keith woke up to the sound of an irritating beeping. He slowly opened his eyes. His vision was a bit blurred, but after blinking a couple of times it cleared.

He now saw that the incessant beeping was coming from a heart monitor. He looked around the room. It appeared to be some kind of medical room. It wasn't one of the Blades so...where the hell was he?!

Keith tried to sit up, but a sudden pain in his side stopped him. It took a moment, but he soon remembered being shot. He then remembered the fight with Zethrid and the Paladins.

The Paladins...this must their place then? That meant they had managed to save his life and the black Paladin had the drive.

Keith now had a ton of questions. What was the Paladin's name again? He knew it had been mentioned during the escape, but for the life of him he couldn't remember what it was. Had the Paladin found a way to contact Kolivan and give him the drive?

Before he could come up with anymore questions he noticed his suit on a nearby chair. His holocomputer, which was attached to his belt, was flashing. Someone had left him a message. Kolivan perhaps?

Keith tried to get up, but the pain came back and forced him to stop. He huffed. This was frustrating. He was about to try again when someone entered the room. It was the black Paladin. 

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"As well as someone can feel after getting shot." Keith replied. "Did you get the drive to Kolivan?" 

"It's on his way to him as we speak."

"Thank you uh-"

"Shiro."

"Thank you Shiro."

A moment of silence was cast upon them.

"Is there anything I can get you?" Shiro asked breaking the silence.

"Can you pass me my holo-computer? It's the blinking thing attached to my suit's belt."

"You've got it." Shiro made his way across the room, took the holo-computer from the belt and gave it to Keith. "What is it?"

"A message from Kolivan. Do you mind leaving while I watch it?"

"Of course not. I'll be back a little bit later."

After Shiro had left the room, Keith loaded up the message.

_"If you're watching this then you must have finally woken up. Good. I have a new mission for you..."_

 

Once he had finished watching the message, Keith turned off his holo-computer and took a minute to process the details of his new mission. He was to spend time here and learn about the Paladins. How the hell did Kolivan expect him to do that when he was injured and trapped in this bed?

Before he could figure out a solution, Shiro came back into the room. This time he had a tray of food with him. "Hunk thought you might want something to eat."

"Hunk?"

"One of my team-mates."

As he ate, Keith and Shiro talked for a little bit. They talked about the new mission that Kolivan had given him and Shiro started to come up with different ways that would allow Keith to learn about the Paladins, while he healed.

Over the next couple of days Shiro visited Keith frequently with different logs and videos. He helped him get familiar with the other Paladins as well as a few of their allies.

"Hunk's the yellow Paladin." Shiro told him.

"The same yellow Paladin that alerted the soldiers to me when he shot at me?"

"Uh...yeah. He mistook you for one of the soldiers. He still feels really bad about it."

"Is that why he keeps sending all of this food?"

Shiro chuckled. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Remind me when I meet him to tell him I accept his apology and he can stop sending all of this to me."

"You've got it. Speaking of meeting the others, Coran said that tomorrow you should be about ready to get out of that bed and see the rest of the facility."

"About time, I hate staying still for too long."

 

The next day soon rolled around and Keith was more than ready to get out of the bed. Far too impatient to wait for Shiro, Keith carefully got out of the bed by himself. Knowing that his legs would be somewhat week after not moving for several days, he used the wall to support himself.

After taking a few moments for his legs to readjust to him standing again, he slowly made his way over to where his suit was. He picked it up and looked it over. The bullet whole had been expertly repaired. No doubt Coran was responsible. From what Shiro had told him he repaired the Paladins' armours when they were damaged in battle, as well as other things.

Keith had his suit on and was putting on his belt when Shiro entered the room.

"You're up." Shiro said, stating the absolute obvious.

"Yes and before we start this tour of your facility I want to know where my blade is." he replied.

"Right, of course. Coran put it in the armoury for safe keeping. We can just start the tour there."

"Alright, lead the way."

 

"Is it just me or did it used to be a lot bigger?" Lance asked as he and the other Paladins were examining Keith's knife.

"No, I think it looks like it always did." Pidge replied.

Lance shook his head. "No it was definitely bigger. I'm sure of it."

"Do you think he's mad at me for shooting at him?" Hunk asked interrupting their discussion on the knife.

"Granted it screwed up my mission, but it doesn't matter anymore. Water under the bridge." Keith said as he and Shiro walked into the armoury. "Now, I'd be grateful if you handed my blade over."

"Sure thing." Pidge said handing it over to him. The second it was in his hand the knife turned into a sword.

"That's better." Keith said. The sword turned back into a knife and he put back into the sheath on his belt. "Let's get on with this tour then?"

"Right. We'll catch up with you guys later and do proper introductions then."

They said their goodbyes and Shiro proceed to show Keith around.

Since they were already there, he showed him the armoury. Keith noticed that all of the armour stands were empty except for the red Paladin's. Same with the bayard table. All of the bayards were gone, but the red one.

_'Huh, strange. Either there's no red Paladin or they're just not using their armour right now?'_

Shiro didn't say anything about the armour or the bayard as they exited the armoury and moved on with the tour. As he showed him where the kitchen, lounge, the Bridge, ect. Keith thought back to when Shiro had told him about the other Paladins. Not once had he mentioned a red one. That extremely confused him and what about the Red Lion? Surely someone piloted it right?

"This will be your room while you stay with us." Shiro said as they came to the end of the hallway where the Paladins' rooms were. "Mine's just across from yours so if you ever need anything I'm not too far. Any questions before we continue?"

"Can I see the lions?"

"Yeah, of course. I was actually about to take you there."

They entered the hangar and Shiro briefly left Keith's side to turn the hangar's lights on. The sight of the lions took Keith's breath away. All his life he had grown up with stories about them, never truly believing he would see them in his lifetime yet here he was.

"Pretty cool, right?" All Keith to do was nod in response. "I guess you can tell who pilots each one by their armour."

"May I?"

"Go ahead."

Keith began to inspect each and every one of them. The lions were magnificent than he could have ever imagined them. It didn't take him long to spot the red one. It sat in a corner and looked extremely neglected. He turned to Shiro.

"The red one doesn't have a pilot?" he asked.

Shiro shook his head. "Unfortunately. Everybody's tried everything, but no one can get her to work. Do you have any ideas?"

"If the stories from my childhood are correct then the lions choose their Paladins. Maybe she's just waiting for the right person to come along." he suggested.

"Huh, the entire time we've been doing this nobody has mentioned any stories about the lions. Maybe you could tell me some of them later?"

"Sure thing. Is there anything you haven't shown me yet?"

"Only a few more rooms."

"Let's go then."

 

"And this is the training deck!" Shiro announced as he made his way over to the console. When he realised that Keith hadn't followed him over he gestured to him to do so.

Keith now by his side, Shiro began to show him the different training modes. He of course noticed when Keith took a strong interest in the intense training mode.

"What do you think?"

"It's definitely a lot different to how I and the other Blades train. Do you not spar with each other?"

"We used to there just hasn't been a lot of time recently." Shiro explained.

"Well before I leave we'll have to find the time to spar with one another."

"Agreed."

From the training deck they made their way to the dining room. The others were already there, waiting for Hunk and Coran to serve lunch.

They sat down at the table and one by one the Paladins introduced themselves. Keith pretty much instantly picked up on Lance's cockiness. The constant bragging that he was the team's sharpshooter was annoying. Other than that he didn't really bother him.

From what he could tell, after his quick examination of the Green Lion and what she was saying now, Pidge was the tech genius of the group. He couldn't understand half what she was saying, but she seemed extremely passionate about it.

Hunk was clearly the chef of the group and, from what he was able to understand from Pidge, he was an engineer also.

After lunch they finished up the tour of the Castle. Over the next few days Keith and Shiro grew surprisingly close, surprisingly fast.

 

As promised Keith told him the various stories of the Lions that he had grown up with. In return Shiro told him stories about this place called the Garrison. Whatever this Garrison was Keith definitely didn't like the sound of it. They also discussed the different missions they had run and what they had learnt from about the Empire.

It wasn't long before the week was up and it was time for Keith to return to the Blades of Marmora. Neither of them knew why, but they were a little sad that Keith's time in the Castle was up.

Keith was going over his equipment, making sure he had everything, when his gaze fell on his holo-computer. Maybe this didn't have to be goodbye.

He picked up the holo-computer and made his way over to Shiro's room. He knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Shiro yelled.

Keith entered the room and was met with the sight of a shirtless Shiro doing push ups. He felt his cheeks heat up and adverted his gaze from him.

"Keith! Is there something you need?" Shiro asked as he got up.

"I came to give something to you. My holo-computer. I'll get a new one when I get back to the base. We can use them to keep in contact." he replied.

"Wow, thanks Keith. I'll be sure to use it."

"Good to hear. Now I should go. Regris won't wait forever."

"See you soon, Keith."

"See you soon, Shiro." 


	3. Day 3 - Long Distance Relationship

_ Keith,  _

_ Just wanted to say thank you again for giving me your holo-computer. Allura told us what was on that data drive you had. I'm guessing Kolivan told you when you got back? It's strange. What does the Empire have to gain by turning on Lotor? What do his generals gain? We've been trying to brainstorm some ideas here, but so far nothing. Maybe you and the BoM have had more luck?  _

_ -Shiro  _

_ Shiro,  _

_ Kolivan thinks that Zarkon believes that Lotor is a threat to the throne. If that is the case then Lotor will be on the run and will probably be looking for new allies. Kolivan thinks he might target you and the other Paladins. Be careful if you run into him.  _

_ As for the generals, Regris on his last mission found some security footage of Lotor killing one of his generals right in front of the others. It's pretty clear why they've turned on him.  _

_ How's the Red Lion? Found a Paladin for her yet? _

_ -Keith _

_ Keith,  _

_ I doubt Lotor would want to ally with us. When we encountered him last, he tried to kill us again. As for the general, that's dark. Wonder what cause him to that.  _

_ Still no Paladin for Red. We are about to travel to a rebel base so maybe we'll find them there. _

_ -Shiro _

_ Shiro,  _

_ Going to have to make this quick. Kolivan just sprung a mission on me and Regris, we're leaving soon. I hope your hunt for the red Paladin goes well and you find them. I'm hoping that maybe after this mission we'll be able to see each other again soon.  _

_ -Keith _

_ Keith, _

_ Good luck on your mission. We didn't find the Paladin, but we did get some important information that will help this fight in the long run. We'll be contacting Kolivan about it once you return.  _

_ On a completely different subject, I couldn't help, but notice all we've been doing is discussing missions and the such. We're no longer talking the way we did when you were staying here, at the Castle. I think we should start doing that again. _

_ I'll go first. My full name is Takashi Shirogane. As you may have noticed I have a robotic arm. I guess you could call it a "gift" from the Empire. _

_ The story on how I got it is...complicated. Ever since I got away I've been having such a hard time remembering what happened.  _

_ I know there was a mission the Garrison put me, Samuel and Matt Holt on. We were collecting ice samples, I think. Then the Galra came out of nowhere and took us.  _

_ Long story short, I managed to escape, ran into Lance and the others, we then ran into Allura and here we are today. We found Matt fairly recently as well. Still no sign of Samuel. That seems to be stressing Pidge out a fair bit, Samuel's her father. Matt's her brother.  _

_ I was wondering if you had come across anything about a human scientist on any of your missions? _

_ -Shiro _

_ Shiro,  _

_ Takashi Shirogane huh? I'll be honest I prefer Takashi over Shiro. Do you mind if I call you that instead?  _

_ You probably get this all of the time, but I'm sorry to hear about what the Galra did to you. Is there any chance the Garrison could've been involved with what happened? From what you've told me about them it sounds like a strong possibility.  _

_ As for the mission. It didn't go as well as it should have. We got caught somehow and Regris nearly got himself killed. Kolivan is angry at me for saving him. You'd think with how spread thin we are right now he'd be happy with not losing another Blade.  _

_ Anyway, as for a human scientist, we've heard rumours, but as far as we can tell that's all they are. Rumours. No proof whatsoever. I'll keep an ear out for more information though.  _

_ Now for a little bit about me. I know I look human, but I'm not...well not entirely. My mom's Galra and my dad's human. _

_...I understand if after learning this you want to cut contact. Most would, to be honest.  _

_ -Keith _

_ Keith,  _

_ You're kidding me right? Why would I cut contact just because you're Galra? If you ask me, anyone that would want to cut contact just because you happen to be Galra isn't worth your time.  _

_ Feel free to call me Takashi. It's been a long time since someone last called me by my first name.  _

_ -Takashi _

Keith smiled when he saw how Shiro...Takashi ended his message. He really didn't care about Keith being Galra? Even after everything the Galra had done to him? Wow, he really was something huh. 

_ Takashi, _

_ Wow I've been typing Shiro so long, typing your first name feels really weird. I appreciate what you said in your last message a lot. Perhaps more than you'll ever know. No one's ever said anything like that to me before.  _

_...Antok just came by to alert me that Lotor's been seen in close to where our base is. Kolivan wants everyone on high alert. I might not be able to send you any more messages for a while after this. The second I am able to again, I will.  _

_ -Keith _

Shiro read the message and instantly became worried. High alert? Kolivan must be concerned that Lotor might find where they were. That wasn't good. Maybe he should go and tell Allura what was going on? Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. 

He turned off the holo-computer and headed straight for the Bridge. 

"Shiro? What's wrong." Allura asked when she saw the look on Shiro's face. 

"I think the BoM could possibly in trouble." 

"Really why?" 

"Me and Keith have been in contact since he left. The end of the last message he sent has been concerned." 

"Let's see it." 

Shiro turned on the holo-computer and showed Allura the end of the message. After she had finished reading it she went over to the main console and attempted to contact Kolivan. She frowned when her attempt failed. 

"Looks like he shut off all outside comms. Hmmm, get Pidge. I remember there being cameras in the area near to their base. We access them then we should be able to decide if we should help out or not." 

"There doesn't seem to be much going on." Pidge said as she flicked through the camera feeds. 

"False alarm maybe?" Hunk asked.

"Maybe. Or Lotor was in the area, but he's moved on now." Pidge replied. 

"Could be. We should continue to keep an eye on the area, just in case." 

"I'm afraid that's not going to be possible Allura." Coran said as he entered the Bridge and went straight for his computer. The feed Pidge had up changed to show them Balmera that was currently being attacked by Galra forces?! 

"Coran's right. We need to protect Balmera. Everyone, to your lions." Shiro commanded. 

"You wanted to see me?" Keith asked as he entered the command centre. 

"Galra forces are attacking Balmera. No doubt they're doing it to lure the Paladins out and take the Lions. You need to go to their base and stop them. The Empire gets their hands on those Lions and we lose this war." Kolivan informed him. 

"What makes you think they'll listen to me?" 

"I know you've been in contact with the black Paladin. Get him to listen to. The rest will follow his lead." 

Keith nodded. He tried to not act surprised that Kolivan knew. Of course he did. What didn't he know?

Keith made his way to the Castle in record time. He was making his way to where he remembered the Bridge to be when he bumped into someone. 

"Hey, watch where you're going...Oh you're Keith right?" 

"Yeah?" 

"Hi, I'm Nyma. May I ask what you're doing here?" 

"Looking for Shiro. Have you seen him." 

"He and the others left a few minutes ago to go protect Balmera." 

"Did they take the Lions with them?!" 

"Well duh! Excluding the Red one of course." 

Dammit! He was too late. No doubt Kolivan would want him to go back and report that by the time he got there it was too late, but that meant leaving them, leaving Shiro, to the mercy of the Galra. He couldn't do that he had to get to Balmera. 

The only problem with that was no vehicle would be fast enough to get him there...except for the Red Lion. Sure everyone that had tried to wake it up had failed, but he hadn't tried yet. 

Without saying another word to Nyma he legged it for the hangar. 

When he got to the hangar he slowly approached the Lion. He stopped in front of it and looked up at it. 

"I know you've refused everyone else, but this is important. The Paladins are in danger. The other Lions are in danger." The Red Lion just sat there. Showing no signs of waking up. He was about to speak to it again when a though occurred to him. What if he was wearing the armour and had the bayard? Would that perhaps work?

He headed to the armoury, put on the armour, grabbed the bayard and made his way back to the hangar. 'Right, let's try this again.'

"Let's get out of here. Open up." 

Silence.

"It's me. Keith. Your buddy."

Silence again. He was getting a little frustrated now. 

"It's me! Keith, your-I am your Paladin!" 

Even more silence. This was going nowhere and he was wasting time. "Fine! I'll go save them myself." 

He didn't have enough time to change out of the armour so he made his way to Balmera wearing it. 

When he arrived, as expected, the Paladins were being thrashed by the Galra forces. Like always Kolivan had been right. Not only were they going to be losing the Paladins, they were going to lose those Lions. Keith wasn't about the let any of that happen. 

He scanned the battle field and quickly found the leader of this onslaught. Sendak. One of Zarkon's more powerful commanders. 

Keith then saw who Sendak was fighting. Shiro! That's when he noticed the Black Lion laying nearby. Hopefully it wasn't too badly damaged. 

He started to make his way to Shiro, cutting down soldiers as he went, when Kolivan's voice came through his comms. "What do you think you're doing Keith?!" 

"You said it yourself Kolivan. We lose them we lose this war." Not wanting to listen to Kolivan lecture him in how reckless this was he took his comm piece out and discarded it. 

Shiro's fight against Sendak was not going well. He was losing big time.

Sendak had managed to disarm him and knock Shiro to the ground. He was about to deal the final blow and end his life when a rock came out of nowhere and smashed into the side of Sendak's head. 

Sendak stumbled slightly and his non-biotic arm went to the spot where the rock hit him. He drew his hand away to reveal blood. 

They both looked in the direction it had come from. Shiro was completely shocked to see Keith wearing the Red Paladin armour. 

Sendak laughed darkly. "So the Red Lion finally chose a Paladin just for you to die alongside your team? How nice of it." With an evil grin Sendak began to make his way across the battlefield toward Keith. 

Keith knew he couldn't use his blade. If Sendak saw it and realised what it was he was sure a fate worse than death would happen to him. He was going to have to use the bayard, even though he had no idea how to. 

_ 'You better work.' _ he thought as he unsheathed it. Before his very eyes the bayard took the form of a sword. _'At least one things gone right today.'_

Fighting Sendak was quite possibly one of the worst ideas Keith had ever had. He was no match for him. It was like fighting Zethrid all over again. 

Sendak made quick work of disarming and knocking Keith to the ground. Exactly like he had done to Shiro just a few moments before. 

Keith had just about accepted his fate when none other than the Red Lion came out of nowhere and began to attack, not only Sendak, but his forces. 

She was fast and agile and Sendak's forces couldn't get a hit in. Knowing when he was beat, Sendak and his soldiers decided to retreat. 

As they left the Red Lion stopped her assault and landed near Keith. He stared up at it in shock. Did this mean he was now a Paladin?!


	4. Day 4 - Conflict

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the shortness of this chapter. i hit a bit of a block :/

Keith still couldn't believe it. He was now a Paladin of Voltron. According to Allura by charging in head first to save Shiro he had proved himself to the Red Lion and so she decided that he was her Paladin. 

Kolivan wasn't too happy with him running head first into a battle with Sendak, but that aside he did seemed impressed that he had managed to wake up the Red Lion. 

Now that he was a Paladin, Keith had moved into the Castle. He was staying in the room he had stayed in a month or so ago. Although part of him wished he wasn't. 

It wasn't due to the other Paladins. They seemed pretty happy that they finally had a Paladin for the Red Lion. 

Shiro had been off with him since the whole Sendak thing. He wasn't speaking with him and when he did he kept it very short and professional. It was almost as if the stories they'd shared and the messages they'd sent had never happened.

Keith had asked the others, but there response was always the same. They hadn't noticed him acting differently whatsoever. 

Confused and a little frustrated, Keith was spending most of his time in the training deck, going through each and every simulator he could. 

With his long hours in the training deck, Keith was constantly missing meal times with the other Paladins. And when the Paladins were doing team excises and the like he was too busy eating. 

His schedule being different to the others was slowly beginning to irritate them. 

Allura had talked to him about it and Keith had managed to change his schedule to match there's, but that only lasted a couple of days before he was back to his usual routine. Unsure of how to proceed with this problem, Allura turned to Shiro. 

"Shiro, you know Keith better than the rest of us. If you were the one to talk to him, I'm sure you could get him to change his schedule to ours permanently." 

Shiro sighed. "I don't know Allura. Ever since he became a Paladin things have been different between us." 

"Only because you made it that way. Don't think I didn't notice how you've been treating him. Now go and talk to him. I'm sure whatever it is you two can sort it." 

"Alright, I'll go talk to him. Any idea where he is?" 

"Where he always is. The training deck." 

Shiro entered the training deck to see Keith making short work of the training robots. Before he could start on the next level Shiro turned the simulator off. 

"What the hell was that for?!" 

"Keith, we need to talk." 

"Now you want to talk? I thought you were to busy to."

"Keith, please, I know I haven't been treating you well lately. Just hear me out." 

Keith shook his head. "Why should I when you've been going around pretending like we never shared those stories, like I didn't give you a way to stay in touch with me. Like I didn't risk my own life to save yours?!" 

"Keith..."

"You know it occurred to me that we never did spar before I left back to the Blades. You want to talk? You've got to beat me first." 

"If it'll get you to talk to me, okay." 

Since Shiro didn't have the black bayard gave him his own to use while Keith used his blade. 

The sparring match last longer than either of them anticipated it would. They had been trained differently, which meant they had different styles, but that didn't stop them from being equally matched. 

Eventually they were forced to stop because they were both in desperate need of a drink and they were feeling somewhat exhausted. 

They sat there in silence, drinking their drinks. Neither of them were sure of what to say. The silence between them seemed to last forever. 

"I'm sorry for acting so off with you Keith." Shiro said, finally breaking the silence. "I just keep thinking back to that fight. At first I couldn't figure out why I was so mad at you for risking your own life to save mine. I should've been grateful! Then one night I realised. I would rather be injured or killed, rather then you." 

Keith frowned. "That doesn't make any sense." 

"What I'm trying to say Keith is that I care about you. I care about you a lot. More than I have ever cared about anyone before." 

"I feel the same way, Takashi. Why else would I take on Sendak? I couldn't let him kill you." Shiro smiled. "What?" Keith asked.

"It's like I said, it's been a while since I last heard someone say my first name. It's nice to hear it again. So, all's forgiven?"

Keith nodded. "All's forgiven." 

"In that case then, let's talk about why you've been avoiding everyone else." 

Keith chuckled. "I guess I should've seen that coming." 

After a small discussion about it, it soon became apparent as to why his schedule was so different. Shiro had been the main reason, but that was solved now. The second thing was that Keith was still unsure of the other Paladins and how to act around them. They were so different to what he was used to, it made sense that he felt like this.

"They're not that bad once you get to know them." Shiro said. 

"Says you." 

"Okay, I know they can be a bit much to handle sometimes, Lance espeically, but they're good people. Just give them a chance, for me?"

"Alright, fine." 

"Great! Now if I'm not mistaken it should be about time for dinner? So let's go join them." 

Keith glared at him. "You planned this, didn't you?" 

"Believe it or not, I actually didn't." 

"Yeah, I don't believe you." 

"We have plenty of time to discuss if I planned all this or not on the way to the dining room. What do you say?" 

"Alright, lead the way." 


	5. Day 5 - Harmony

Over the following months, while he was still getting to know the others, Keith and Shiro were becoming closer and closer.

Each mission, each battle, the strength of their bond was shown, not only to the other Paladins, but to anyone who was present.

They spent a lot of time with each other in between mission, but they made sure that didn't take away from the time that they spent with the rest of the team.

 Things were going well...or at least they were. Even though he wasn't acting differently around the others Shiro could feel him becoming more and more distant.

Every time he tried to bring it up with Keith something always happened to stop the conversation. Until tonight, that was.

It was the evening and not much had happened during the day so everyone was doing something to relax. Since Keith didn't really know how to relax Shiro was betting he was using the train deck...again. However he did not find Keith. Instead he found Lance and Allura training together.

"Hey Shiro! Come here to see the sharpshooter at work?" Lance asked.

"Not exactly. I thought Keith would be here." Shiro replied.

"Oh." Lance said, looking a little rejected.

"Next time I will definitely come by to see the sharpshooter at work."

The light that had disappeared from Lance's eyes returned immediately. "Honestly it's probably a good thing you're not sticking around. Means you'll be blown way even more when you come by next."

"I bet I will Lance. Now, do you two know where Keith is?"

"I'm sure he headed back to his room." Allura replied.

"Thank you, Allura." and with that, Shiro was headed for Keith's room.

Once he got there, he knocked on the door and waited for Keith to give him the all clear. There was no answer. Shiro frowned. Maybe he hadn't heard? He knocked again, louder this time. The same result. Perhaps he had fallen asleep? Although that didn't make any sense. Shiro knew Keith's schedule, it was far too early for him to be sleeping.

"I'm coming in okay?" Shiro called out just in case he had been wrong and Keith was in there. He hadn't been. He walked in to find the room empty. Where the hell was he?

 

Coran was going about the last of his duties when he came across Keith sitting alone in the lounge.

"Everything okay Keith?" he asked in his usual chipper way.

"Yeah, I'm fine Coran." Keith replied.

"Good to hear! I'll be on my way then." Coran was about to leave when Keith stopped him.

"Actually, Coran, there is...something that you might be able to help with."

Coran sat near to where Keith was sitting. "Alright, now what seems to be the issue Keith?"

Keith took a deep breath. "Okay, let's say I have a friend, who has this other friend."

Was he seriously going for the friend metaphor? Oh well, too late to back out of it now.

"These two friends have been friends for a while now, but recently one of my friends has started to see the other one in a uh different way then they did in the past. They want to tell the other one, but they don't know if they feel the same way."

"I can only tell you what a good friend of mine once said. Tell your friend to go for it, you never know what's going on in another's head unless you talk about it. After all, anything could happen tomorrow and they'll regret it if they don't say anything."

"And what do they do if the other person doesn't feel the same way?"

"They can start to move on, for starters. And if they think their friendship might be negatively impacted by saying something then I'm sure, if they've been friends for a while, they should be just fine."

"You think?"

"Of course! Is that all you needed or should I get back to my activities?"

"Yeah, go ahead. Thank you Coran."

"Any time. Ah! Shiro! Me and Keith here were just finishing up our conversation. He's all yours." and with that Coran left the two in peace.

 

"Are you okay Keith?" Shiro asked as he sat down next to him. "You've been a bit distant lately."

'Whenever I'm okay or not really depends on how this goes' Keith thought. "Um, yeah, we need to talk Takashi."

"I'm listening." he replied.

"I-uh-I like you Takashi. I like you a lot."

"I like you too Keith."

Keith noticed the way he said it and sighed. "No, I mean, I _like_ you. As in more than in a friend way."

A silence fell over them as Shiro processed what Keith had just said. The silence lasted a lot longer than Keith would have liked it too. So much so he was becoming quite a bit anxious.

"Listen, Takashi, I understand-" Before he could finish his sentence, Shiro had closed what small space was between them and kissed Keith.

Unsure of what was happening at first, Keith froze. Once his mind had processed it, he closed his eyes and kissed back. The kiss only lasted for a few seconds, but in those few seconds it felt like the world had stopped turning. Nothing else mattered, but them.

The kiss ended and Keith couldn't help, but look at Shiro in shock.

"You feel the same way?" Keith asked once he finally found his voice again.

"Of course I do." Shiro leant his head against Keith's. "I have done for a long time. I didn't say anything cause I wasn't sure you did."

"What do we do now?"

"I don't know. What do you want to do?"

Keith took a minute to think. "Hmm, well I don't want the others to know, not yet at least. I want us to figure out what exactly this could be first. I don't think we can do that with everyone putting pressure on us. Not that they would mean to of course."

Shiro nodded. "I understand what you mean. I think keeping this a secret for a little while is a good idea as well. Now, how do you feel about trying out the pool? Last I checked we're the only two people in the Castle to not have used it yet."

"Alright, I'll race you."

Shiro smiled. "You're on."


	6. Day 6/7 - Resistance/Free Day

Deciding not to tell everyone else yet was turning into a bigger problem then they had first originally thought. Not telling anyone meant that Keith and Shiro couldn't say certain things nor do certain things.

To say they hadn't nearly been caught a couple of times was an understatement. Every single time they tried to spend sometime together somebody always came by and interrupted.

Shiro sighed as Pidge left the room. "I didn't think it would be this hard." he said.

"I know. What do you think we should do?"

Before Shiro could reply the alarm that let them know they were needed on the Bridge went off. "I guess we'll continue this conversation later."

When they did eventually have the conversation Keith and Shiro came to the decision to put everything on hold until the war's end.

Months went by and during those months Shiro and Keith soon began to realise that deciding to put everything on hold was a lot harder than sneaking around. At least when they were sneaking around they could still be close before someone came by and disturbed them.

Time went on and resisting each other was getting harder and harder. They were doing what they could to keep busy and try to forget how they were feeling, but slowly they were running out of ideas.

Lotor had joined the Paladins a short while ago. Kolivan had been right, Zarkon had deemed him a threat to the throne and had turned on him.

Lotor had joined them after a mission had gone wrong and he had saved Allura's life. Unsure of his motives they'd locked him up. Everything after that had been just one big rollercoaster.

Zarkon was now dead and Lotor had the throne. For a time he continued to work with the Paladins until now. When they had learned what would happen if they opened a rift similar to the rift that had destroyed Daibazaal they had tried to convince him of the risks, but Lotor wasn't having it. Now he had turned on them.

They had infiltrated Lotor's base of operations a few moments ago thanks to the help from Kolivan, Keith and the rest of the Blades.

While most the Blades were off looking for information to see if Lotor was already making a move to open a rift as well as prisoners, the Paladins had split into two teams.

Pidge, Lance, Hunk and Kolivan were looking for a way to either rewire or shut down the sentinels as well as the base's defences.

Allura, Shiro, Keith and Krolia were looking for Lotor.

Allura and Shiro were scouting ahead while Keith and Krolia hung back a bit, making sure they weren't been followed or someone was trying to sneak up on them.

"So he is the one that you have chosen?" Krolia asked. "Hmm, seems we have a similar taste in humans."

Keith groaned. "Seriously? You want to talk about this right now?!"

"Well you are together, aren't you?" Keith looked away from her, pretending he had heard something. "Keith?"

Keith sighed. "Not right now, but soon. Maybe."

"Why not?"

"It's complicated okay? Now can we please just focus on the task at hand? We can talk later."

"Alright."

That's when they noticed that Allura and Shiro had slowed down. Keith knew why, he recognised the area. They were getting close to the throne room.

"What's the plan?" Krolia asked.

"We try talking to him again. If that doesn't work, I think you already know how that's going to go." Krolia nodded.

Everything with Lotor went exactly how they had expected. He refused to listen to reason and they were forced to fight him. Even with all of his skills, Lotor hadn't been a match for three members of Voltron, one of them being a former Blade and a current Blade.

They knew of the other Paladins' success because the fighting outside had stopped.

Everyone soon regrouped and Allura, Kolivan and the other leaders started the beginning of what to do next now that the Empire was lying in ruins.

Keith was sitting on the floor, back against the way, resting.

"That was one intense fight huh?" Shiro asked as he say next to him.

"Very." Keith replied.

"So that's that. War's over."

"War might be over, but our days of fighting aren't. Haggar, the three generals and a few of the commanders are still out there, somewhere."

Shiro nodded. "True. Most of them are probably already in hiding so it's going to be a really long time before we find all of them."

"What are you saying Takashi?"

"We said we'd put everything on hold until the war's end. Well, here we are."

Keith smiled. "Kiss me then."

"Here? Where everyone can see?"

"Takashi, I don't want to go back to that whole sneaking around thing, that was stressful and these past months have been painful. We're going to tell everyone eventually anyway. Why not now?"

"Good point, Keith. A very good point. Plus, if I'm not mistaken, Allura's planning on giving us a few days off once we get back to the Castle. So now does seem to be as good a time as any." Shiro said before leaning in and kissing Keith.

The reaction from everyone was of course positive and everyone was very happy for them, Allura even let them return to the Castle early and begin packing their things for their break. Their kiss had even given other's the confidence to convince their feelings to those they had been crushing on for a while now.

After they had showered, got clean clothes, eaten, rested and packed their things, Keith and Shiro said goodbye to everyone and went off on their way.

Shiro refused to tell Keith where they were going. He wanted it to be a surprise. Not that Keith minded. Never in his life had someone wanted to surprise him before.

A couple days of travelling and the area they were in began to change. They had left civilization hours ago, but now the fields were slowly being replaced by sand. Lots and lots of sand. They were entering a desert.

"We're nearly there." Shiro said before Keith could ask.

A couple hours later and soon a building appeared on the horizon. Was that where they were heading? Half and hour later and it was clear. The building was definitely where they were headed.

When they reached the building it became clear to Keith that it was a shack. A shack that was big enough for two people. Keith smiled. "Takashi, is this the surprise?"

Shiro returned his smile. "Yes it is. So what do you think?"

"A shack in the middle of nowhere and it's just ours? I like it very much."

"There's something else as well." Shiro said before getting out of the car.

"Something else?" Keith asked, getting out of the car also.

"Yep!" Shiro replied as he disappeared behind the shack. Keith raised an eyebrow. Where the hell was he going?

"Takashi?" Keith called after him. He was about to follow him when Shiro reappeared with a red hover bike. "What's this?"

"Well, considering that your motorcycle got destroyed all that time ago, I thought you'd like a replacement." Shiro explained.

"How much did this cost?"

"Nothing. Really!" he said when he saw Keith's questioning gaze. "A long time ago, before we met, I found this on a mission. We were going to just leave it, but Coran and Hunk decided that it would be a great project. After it was repaired they both realised they weren't brave enough to use it, Lance didn't want it because it wasn't blue and Allura and Pidge showed no interest. So it was given to me. I don't need it, but I thought you'd like it."

"I don't like it. I love it. Like I love you." Keith replied.

Shiro blushed and smiled. He made his way over to Keith. "I love you too." he said. Shiro pulled Keith in close and kissed him. "Now how about we go unpack and get settled?"

"Sounds great." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that concludes sheith week unlimited 2k18! since i wasn't able to post yesterday due to a headache i decided to combine yesterday's and today's prompt! thank you to everyone who commented, bookmarked and/or left kudos. makes me happy to know that you've all enjoyed reading this, as i did writing it! and i'll see you during the next sheith week perhaps?


End file.
